


While You Were Sleeping

by Lucy_Claire



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 03:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11005218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy_Claire/pseuds/Lucy_Claire
Summary: Not having the guts to go talk to his neighbor, all Lance can do is watch him through the window every time they're both home. But once he spies Keith falling and hitting his head, his only way to get him help, stay with him through the ambulance ride and hospital stay isby pretending to be his boyfriend.It was supposed to be temporary, just to make sure Keith was okay. But once he wakes up with amnesia, Lance's web of lies gets a lot more tangled, and so do his feelings for Keith.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeaAndCrumpetsIfYouPlease](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaAndCrumpetsIfYouPlease/gifts).



> Loosely based on the movie _While You Were Sleeping_
> 
>  
> 
>  **PS.** My first book is now on Amazon for $0.99 or for free on Kindle Unlimited! Check it out [**HERE!**](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071J28LKW)!

In his defense, Lance didn’t mean for one small lie to get as out of hand as it did. What was he supposed to do? Just leave him to wake up alone and confused in the hospital? What if he had amnesia and forgot where he even lived? What if he needed help settling back in after a drop that bad, who was going to help him? From Lance knew, it didn’t seem like he had any friends.

Lance put down his book and massaged his brows his thumb and index finger, smoothing the frown that kept trying to force itself on his face. He hadn’t slept all night, and this chair was not doing his back any favors considering he got benched for it to begin with.

He looked to the hospital bed to his right, where his neighbor — the one he’s been watching like a favorite TV show through his living room window for months — sat snoozing, hooked up to IV drips and a heart-monitor.

Cute neighbor, whose name was apparently Keith Kogane, was short. That wasn’t a recent observation, he had picked up on that a while ago, probably the first few times he spotted him across the space between both their apartment buildings. He must have been like 5’6 or 5’7 because if he weren’t, he wouldn’t have needed to get up on a rickety kitchen chair to change a light-bulb.

Christ, he wasn’t making any sense. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or maybe it was the rush of the whole thing and the amount of nervous lies he had to blurt out to get here.

A nurse in pink scrubs stuck her head into the room. She had silver-blonde hair and big blue eyes and had powered her pink blush a bit too high on her cheeks. “Oh, I didn’t know someone was here.” She made her way in and went straight to adjusting the IVs. “That’s good, that he has someone here with him for when he wakes up. I was actually worrying about that, incase he might wake up when I’m on my shift and can’t stop on by and help.”

The nurse, a tall Indian girl — who had either just gotten her job here or was interning, because she didn’t seem that older than him — managed to give off an effortless sort of glamor and grace while looking exhausted and with her hair up in a messy bun. She also had a weird accent, not British but something like it. Australian maybe? Wouldn’t be unthinkable, this was California, which was the easiest state to reach from Down Under.

“You — uh, you know him?” Lance asked awkwardly, feeling the nervous sweat sprout back and drench his shirt.

The nurse stopped fidgeting with everything around Keith and laughed tiredly. “Oh, yes.  Sorry. I’m Allura. He’s my boyfriend’s best friend. Shiro’s chosen to go study for a year in Japan, and I’ve promised to look after Keith for him while he’s gone.”

Lance swallowed. “Shiro, right. Yeah. He’s told me all about him.”

Allura smiled. It was a brilliant, pleased smile, like this news relieved her somehow. She came around and sat on the edge of the bed, setting her feet up on the arm of Lance’s chair. Eagerly, she reached over and nudged his arm. “So, he hasn’t told me anything about you. Or told Shiro who could have told me.”

“Uh…”

“You are his boyfriend, right?”

The sweating increased. He cleared his throat and waved it off. “Yeah, of course I am.”

“How did you two meet?”

And that’s when his thoughts went off track.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t like he meant to be creepy. He’s had his fair share of run-ins with creeps ever since he moved further north to attend Altea University with Hunk. Frat parties, gay bars, regular bars, house parties or even just biking home, he’s either had eyes or comments following him that made his skin crawl.

But once the room right across from theirs lit up and started showing some signs of life, Lance was hooked.

In Apartment Building B, right on the outskirts of campus, on the same level as and Hunk’s living room was the living room of the most inexplicably attractive guy Lance has ever laid eyes on. Slim, toned, all sharp angles and tense shoulders, with choppy black hair, and a deep voice that resonated out his open window when he sang or spoke, he was spellbinding. He had a collection of exotic knives hung up on his wall, alongside a red electric guitar and posters of most of Lance’s favorite rock bands (moment of silence for MCR), and a punching bag that hung from the ceiling, everything about him just grabbed Lance’s interest by lungs and made him feel breathless.

He also seemed to be home at the same time Lance was, so, it was to be assumed that they could have shared at least a few class times, if not the same class. But Lance searched, he kept his eye out every day for that red motorcycle jacket — and yeah, he had a motorcycle too, which completed Lance’s ultimate bad boy fantasy — but no such luck.

“Dude,” Hunk began one night, peering over Lance’s shoulder to join him in staring out the window. Hot Neighbor Boy was shirtless today, and barefoot, and kicking the crap out of his punching bag. He had some Bruce Lee-level muscle definition.

“Yeah?” Lance said distractedly.

“You need to stop, it’s been months. Either go ask him out or stop perving on the guy.”

The spell was broken. Lance spun in his office chair to jab Hunk in the chest, spluttering a defensive response of  “Perving? I am not perving! I’m just —”

“Just what?” Hunk challenged, crossing his arms.

Lance paused, finger still raised objectionably. “Enjoying the view?”

“As I said. Perving.”

“What am I not allowed to look anyone now?”

“That’s the thing, you don’t look at anyone but this guy. You’ve been ogling him for months.” Hunk took hold of Lance’s office chair and rolled him out of the corner by the desk and window and deeper into the living room. Lance tried to struggle, but there was no use as Hunk dragged him all the back to his bedroom.

“What’s the point of this? I’m just going to go back there later anyway, I have homework.”

“I know, but I need you to at least give it some thought without any distractions,” Hunk said on his way out. He stopped, reaching for the doorknob. “Really though, not just for the creeper thing, but for your own sanity, man. Either ask him out or move on and ask out someone else.”

Lance deflated, slouching in his chair.

Giving up on getting a direct answer, Hunk shook his head with a sigh and shut the door behind him.

Was it because he was frustrated and single or just plain frustratingly single? Maybe. It wasn’t like he didn’t try asking other people out, but the ones that caught his interested were either already in a relationship or didn’t swing his way. Having a crush was a safe bet in the whole romantic-feelings department. Having a crush on a stranger was far safer than crushing on a friend, because that was the recipe for a broken heart and a ruined friendship. He would know, he had a nasty habit of falling in love with his friends.

It’s not he was planning on kidnapping the guy and handcuffing them together so he couldn’t escape. He just liked checking in on him, and found him really, really attractive. Was it any different than when people crushed on celebrities and followed blogs dedicated to posting pictures, GIFs and fan-videos of them? It was harmless, not to be acted upon.

Hunk made it sound like it was easy, for him to just go up to a guy that cool and ask him out. What if he said no? What if he wasn’t into dudes and reacted badly? What if he was dating someone? Or what if he just didn’t like Lance himself? The most interesting thing about him was that he was a swimmer and he’d injured his shoulder exerting himself in his last competition, meaning there was a good chance he could be benched indefinitely.

No, it was better to keep it as it was. That was there was no risk of him getting upset over it when it all went south.

When he heard Hunk leave later that night to go to his Engineering Club meeting, Lance went back out to his desk by the window to finish his star chart for Intro to Astronomy. Hot Neighbor Guy was still home, his living room a little dimmer. He moved into the frame of the window, still shirtless and sweaty, and dragging a small wooden kitchen hair behind him.

He hopped up and reached for the ceiling, rolling up on his toes to unscrew the dead light-bulb.

Within a blink, it all went to hell.

He went from balanced atop the chair to its legs scraping the floor and slipping out from under him. He crashed onto his back with an audible slap of skin on wood and his head hit the floor so hard it resounded once before he went completely limp.

Lance shot out of his seat, heart pounding rapidly as he stuck his head out his window. He waited for a minute, two, then five with baited breath. Waiting for him to move, to get up and move around so he could ask if he was okay. But he didn’t move, he just lied there, intensifying Lance’s worry.

When the panic became unbearable and scenarios started to shoot through his mind about all those people who died alone, at home with no one noticing until they rotted, he picked up his sneakers, tore his jacket off the coat hanger and bolted out the door.

He ran across the path between their buildings, shot up to the second floor and went straight to where he hoped and thought his room would be.

He knocked loudly. “Hello? Hey, you okay in there?”

No answer.

He knocked again and again and again until his knuckles ached then pounded, the door pushing in with every press of his fist, but now amount of noise was going to wake him up.

This was bad, this was really bad.

He checked around the door for anything, a key, a fire extinguisher, a battling ram, but found nothing but an envelope shoved under it addressed to a _Keith Kogane_.

Keith.

“Keith!” Lance shouted, pounding on the door again, knocking dust off the edges as caved in with each thump.

That’s it, he was knocking it down.

Positioning his good shoulder on level with the door, Lance slammed himself against it over and over until, finally, it swung open and he fell in. He had landed right next to Keith, who lied spread-eagled on the floor, sweat still soaking his hair, curling it slightly.

He was still breathing.

Lance rose on his knees and tapped Keith’s face. “Hey, wake up. Come on, man, wake up.”

Keith cracked his eyes open, just enough for Lance to see what color they were — a deep, dark violet-blue — before they shut again.

Lance patted around his pockets for his phone then launched himself at the couch to grab Keith’s, hurriedly calling 911.

The ambulance arrived within ten minutes. While they questioned him about what happened, Lance rushed around the apartment, packing whatever clothes and keys he could find in an overnight bag.

“How long has he been out?” the paramedic, a tired blonde woman, asked him.

“About quarter an hour?” Lance said, chewing on his bottom lip, watching the paramedics load Keith onto a stretcher. “Is he going to be okay.”

“We don’t know yet, but it’s a good thing you called when you did.” The paramedic reached for the bag. “Alright, he’s good to go.”

Lance held the bag out of reach. “Uh, can I come with? You know, just to make sure he’s okay?”

“I’m afraid not, only family and partners can ride along —”

“I am! His partner, I mean,” Lance blurted out suddenly, face heating up. “I’m his boyfriend.”

“Oh, I guess that’s allowed.”

Lance followed them out and into the back of the ambulance. For comfort or for show, he  didn’t know, but he held Keith’s hand the entire way there.

That’s he ended up still there, several hours later, reading one of the books he snatched off Keith’s bedside table in a rush, and being stared down by Allura the nurse.

 

* * *

 

Allura leaned closer, setting her arms on her knees, intrigued. “So? How did you meet?”

“Bumped into each other, almost literally,” he told Allura, rubbing his neck.

“Where?”

“You know,” Lance said casually. “Around campus. We don’t have any classes together so that was literally the only other way we could have met.”

“And then?”

“We got to talking, walked back to his building and then talked some more there and the rest is history.”

“How long have you two been together?” Allura asked. She covered her mouth, smiling slightly. “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe it.”

Lance’s weak smile dropped. If he looked guilty, she didn’t notice as she continued babbling, “I’m just so happy for him. He’s always had a hard time making friends so it’s such a surprise to me that didn’t just find a friend on campus, but a boyfriend!”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, his voice cracking into a mousy squeak.

Keith’s heart monitor sped up suddenly. Allura and Lance jumped to their feet to find Keith wide awake, breathing heavily, eyes darting around the room. “Where…where am I?”

Allura rushed to his left, helping him sit up. “Hey, hey, sweetie, it’s okay. You had a little accident, but you’ll be fine.”

Keith stared at her blankly, then, slowly, the recognition began to seep back into his eyes. “Shiro's girlfriend?”

Allura's smile went from relived a to bit a uneasy. “Yes, Allura. You remember me, right?"

Keith shook his head slightly, settling on his elbows. He stared right in Lance’s direction, frowning. “Who are you?”

Lance felt the blood drain from his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **PS.** My first book is now on Amazon for $0.99 or for free on Kindle Unlimited! Check it out [**HERE!**](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071J28LKW)!

Allura had gotten the doctor. He shone lights in Keith’s eyes, made him follow his finger as he asked him a few general questions. He too was seemingly Australian, but very ginger and very odd.

“How many fingers am I holding up,” asked Doctor Coran, raising a fist.

“Um, none?” Keith said slowly.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Keith.”

“Where are you from?”

“Texas.”

“Do you know where you are now?”

“California, I think?” He said, eyeing Allura, who stood off to the side, arm wrapped around her middle, hand on her mouth. “I came up to California to visit Shiro and he introduced me to his girlfriend?”

“Is that all you remember?” Coran asked.

“I…kinda? I’ve met you like, what, once?” he asked Allura.

Her eyes hardened suddenly, the lively twinkle in them long gone. “Keith...”

“What year is it?” Coran interrupted, lightly feeling the back of Keith’s head for bumps.

“Two-thousand-and-fifteen?” he said, unsure.

“Aaaand there’s your problem,” said Coran, jotting down something on his notepad.  “It’s two-thousand-and-seventeen.”

Keith’s jaw dropped.

“Looks like your little bump on the head sparked a case of retrograde amnesia.”

 _“Amnesia?”_ Lance, Keith and Allura all shouted in unison.

“Yes. Oh, but don’t worry, most of his memories should start coming back soon, within the week if not a bit more.”

“Most?” Keith repeated, eyes wide as saucers.

“Well, I can’t give you a hundred-percent guarantee, the brain is a fickle organ, you see.” Coran clapped him on the shoulder, jostling him slightly. “It could have been worse. Thank God it’s just a bump and a few measly memories and not your entire grasp on the English language or a four-month long coma.”

The doctor tore off a page from his notepad and handed it Keith. “I suggest a few days’ rest, wait for the swelling to go down before you try anything more risqué than climbing the stairs and take at least three of these pills a day for the first week, then go down to one.” Rising up, Coran waltzed out the room, his voice trailing behind him. “Don’t drink, don’t operate heavy machinery, or both, and have someone stay with you the first night or two, just incase.”

Keith stared after him for a bit and then at the prescription.

“I’ll get that for you, the pharmacy should still be open.” Allura gingerly took the note from him, jabbing her thumb out the door before she rushed out, taking out her phone as she went. “Lance, fill him in on whatever you can. I’ll be back to drive you boys home, okay?”

Lance nodded, stunned. Keith stared after her too, exhaling loudly, before finally focusing his attention on Lance.

“So,” he began slowly, sizing him up curiously. “You’re my boyfriend?”

 _Shit,_ Lance thought. _Shit, shit, you’ve done it now, Lance._

He watched Lance expectantly, there was a lost kind of sadness mixed with disbelief in his eyes, like he couldn’t believe Lance was here, with him, for him. It made it very hard for him to tell the truth. This guy lived alone, had no friends his age or in this state it seemed, and Allura mentioned no family, just that this friend, Shiro, was his primary contact and abroad to boot. What was he supposed to tell him?

“Yeah, I am. You gave me a real scare, you know that?”

Keith shrugged sheepishly, a small smile playing at his lips. “Was it that bad?”

“That bad? Dude, I thought you were dead at first. Hell, you could have died!”

“From hitting my head?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of internal bleeding? Your head hit the floor so hard it’s a miracle your skull didn’t crack.”

“Well, Shiro did always say I was a bit hard-headed.”

Lance snorted out a laugh. “That you are, you’d have to be that stubborn to drive a motorcycle.”

Keith’s eyebrows rose. “I got it working again?”

“Hmm?”

“My dad’s old bike, I remember tweaking and tuning it and taking it for a few rides, but not much beyond that.”

“You got it working,” Lance assured him, knowing that the very same gorgeous red two-wheeled death machine was parked right outside Building B. “It’s a real beauty, you did good work on that paint job.”

“Red, right?”

“Right and this shiny kind of silver and white.”

Keith nodded. “I had it all planned out, that it would look like my favorite _Voltron_ lion.”

A weight felt like it had been lifted off his chest. “ _Voltron_ , really?”

“What, it’s a good cartoon.”

“No, no, don’t get me wrong. My favorite was the blue one, but I just got into all the older anime lately.”

“We never talked about it before?”

“Voltron or anime? I’m pretty sure I’ve tried nagging you into watching _Sailor Moon_ with me.”

Keith wrinkled his nose in distaste. It was cute. Really cute. “Ugh, _Sailor Moon_ , seriously?”

“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it.”

“How close were you getting to making me watch it?”

“Not close at all,” Lance answered, which wasn’t really a lie.

Keith swung his legs over the edge of the bed, pressed his bare feet to the floor experimentally, getting the feeling back in the rest of his body. “Can you tell me anything about me, about you, or where we are that could ring any bells? I seem to have changed a lot in the last two years.”

“You think so?”

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you? Last I remember nobody could stand to be around me long enough to hang out with me, let alone date me.”

A heavy weight settled itself in Lance’s stomach. Guilt, probably. “Why the fuck not? You’re the epitome of a cool dude with your knives, your motorcycle and your sexy kickboxing – um.”

Keith cracked up. “My what now?”

“Nothing. Forget I said anything,” Lance waved off, feeling both very embarrassed and very invasive.

“Oh, come on.”

Feeling his face burn, Lance choked out, “It’s not like it isn’t obvious. You’re really fit and you have this like dangerous and mysterious vibe about you that probably drives all the girls crazy.”

“Does it drive you crazy?” Keith asked quietly, voice pitched low as he looked down at him, eyes boring through him like drills.

Thankfully, Allura chose that moment to pop back in, shaking an orange pill bottle. “Ready to go, boys?”

Lance handed Keith the overnight bag. He changed into the clothes Lance grabbed at random and they followed Allura out to the staff parking-lot, trading a few words here and there, mostly about how Keith was feeling and music they each liked listening to. On the drive home, Allura filled Keith in more on the last two years than Lance could ever hope to with his dodging, half-truths and facts from hours and hours of staring.

Keith was indeed from Texas and had moved here last year to be with Shiro, who left him their apartment when he left for Japan. He was now nineteen years old, he was going to head into the air force straight out of high school but Shiro had convinced him at least get a degree first and see if he changed his mind after four years. That and he apparently gave self-defense lessons on campus. How did Lance never consider that there might be where he could have found him?

Now he was just dreading for Keith to remember everything – remember that he didn’t know him, and flip. But hey, this was all temporary, just until he got better.

 

* * *

 

 

“What happened here?” Keith asked as they entered his apartment.

“You got the bright idea to use one of those shitty chairs to change a light-bulb. Might want to invest in a ladder next time,” Lance said tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

Keith spun in a circle around the room, familiarizing himself with all his stuff. “Sorry about all this.”

“What do you mean?”

Keith spread out his arms to the whole room. “Y’know. This. The falling, freaking you out and then forgetting you entirely, that’s gotta suck.”

Lance froze in the doorway, hand on the doorknob. “No, no, it’s fine. You heard Doctor Thornberry, it could have been a lot worse.”

Keith laughed, his entire face lit up. “He does! He does look like Nigel Thornberry.”

They stood idly across from each other, each one daring the other to speak first.

“So…” Lance began. “I guess I should go –”

“Can you stay?” Keith blurted out.

Lance’s heart gave a sudden thump, like someone had rapped the inside of his ribcage with their knuckles. “You want me to stay?”

Biting his lip and twisting the bottom of his jacket, Keith nodded. “Doctor said I shouldn’t be alone, and this all weird enough as it is, so I’d rather not be alone.” He moved closer, looking up at Lance through his long, dark lashes. “Besides, having you nearby could help.”

He nodded, stepping inside the apartment. Toeing off his shoes by the door, he followed Keith inside, dropping off his things as he rummaged through his closet. There were two bedrooms, one that must have been Shiro’s, or Shiro’s could have been the one Keith was staying in now judging by the size of the bed.

“Nothing she told me rang any bells,” Keith said, handing Lance a pair of pajamas. “Nothing about moving here, about working here, about her, about Shiro leaving the country. Nothing. It’s just a big, empty space in my head between now and what I last remember.”

“Hey, don’t rush it, you just woke up and your brain’s a bit rattled, you should just sleep now and it will all come back on its own,” Lance assured him, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. “Or you could work on visiting all the spots or trying all the things you’ve been doing lately, maybe those can act as a trigger for some memories.”

Placing a hand over Lance’s, Keith nodded. “You’re right.”

Lance changed in the bathroom and sent Hunk a message from Keith’s phone, telling him he would be back in the morning and to not worry then he headed to the guest room. Keith leaned out of his room, top not buttoned up all the way, and caught him by the elbow. “Where are you going?”

“The other room? I’ll keep the door open if you want.”

Keith shook his head, tugging him further in the room. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I know the doctor said to stay with you but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything,” he insisted, though barely resisting being pulled back into the bedroom. “I mean, I am a stranger to you and all.”

“That’s exactly why you should stay,” said Keith. “You said I need to do familiar things to jumpstart my memories, and you’re supposed to be familiar to me, so you’ll need to be close by.”

Lance opened his mouth and closed it a few times, shock rendering him a speechless fish.

Keith got under the cover in the part of the bed by the cluttered nightstand and patted the spot next to him and Lance wanted to die.

He had had this fantasy before, of the Hot Neighbor Guy of his many daydreams and idealized thoughts inviting him to bed, both to sleep and to not, but now that he was faced with it, in this circumstance, he wanted to turn on his heel and run through the door, leaving nothing a Lance-shaped hole in his wake.

But he didn’t, he owed Keith this much, even if it was a lie that seemed to keep getting bigger and bigger.

He climbed onto the other side of the bed, turned off the light and waited for Keith turn off his.

“What do we usually do?” Keith asked him. “Do we, like, spoon or anything?”

Lance didn’t know about Keith, but he liked being the little spoon.

“Yeah, sometimes.”

He ran a hand through his hair, looking thoughtful. “So, uh, how long have we been together.”

Lance resisted the urge to truthfully answer “Just today,” but instead with, “Not long, a couple of weeks.”

“Like around, what, two or three months?”

“Something like that.”

“So, we’re past the awkward stage, and you’ve obviously stayed over a couple of times?”

Lance simply hummed in agreement.

Keith looked him up and down again, but this was a different look than the one he gave him in the hospital. It was less curious and more…appreciative.

“Wow, I really hate that I’ve forgotten all of that.”

“It’ll come back,” Lance squeaked nervously, starting to shake from either the nerves or the exhaustion.

“Or I just have a chance to do what very people can,” he said, leaning on his arm, bringing his face dangerously close to Keith’s.

“And what’s that?” Lance asked, desperate to keep his voice steady.

“Experience the same thing twice,” he breathed, his breath warming Lance’s face.

Keith moved in and pressed his lips to Lance.

A warm spark went through his body, turning his nervous shakes to buzzing shivers.

It was everything he had imagined, everything he’d wanted since he’d first laid eyes on him, but it was also so wrong, so, so wrong.

Lance was going to hell for this.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me here on [**Tumblr**](http://lucyclairedelune.tumblr.com)!
> 
>  
> 
>  _Don't forget to check out my book[ **HERE!**](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071J28LKW)!_ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧


End file.
